Even though it won’t be competing in top-flight WRC competition, Volkswagen has used its best motorsport people to develop the car. Technical director, Francois-Xavier Demaison, was responsible for Sebastien Ogier’s championship-winning car between 2013 and 2016. Jan de Jongh, project manager, was also involved in developing Ogier’s car.

Full specifications haven’t been announced, but the R5 is being based on the new Polo GTI with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine employing direct injection to channel 270 horsepower to all four wheels through a five-speed sequential gearbox.

Introduced to the WRC in 2012, the R5 category cars have become the go-to rally motorsport for young WRC hopefuls and privateers. Currently five other manufacturers — Ford, Citroen (DS), Peugeot, Toyota and Proton — have developed vehicles for next year’s WRC2.

The powertrain is a 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-4 rated at 272 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, which is quite the gain on the standard Polo GTI’s 197 hp. And drive in the rally car is routed to the ground via a close-stepped, 5-speed sequential transmission and 4-wheel-drive system. Weighing just 2,910 pounds, the Polo GTI R5 will hit 62 mph in just 4.1 seconds.

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Despite a similar capacity to the cars of the WRC, the power will be significantly lower to settle at about 300 hp. Side look however, the Polo GTI R5 will be all great: the sketch released by Volkswa...

As well as its road version, which should be launched at the end of the year, the Polo GTI R5 will be powered by a four-cylinder direct injection engine that will offer 270 hp. The rally version will ...

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